YOU ASKED, WE ANSWERED
Dear Reader
Our goal at the Messenger is to produce a magazine worthy of your time and attention. With each issue, we hope to showcase the kinds of stories that inspire you to think, to care, and to feel pride in this great institution.
To do that to the best of our ability, we need your input. We want to know the kinds of stories you love (and the ones you don’t) so that we may continue to deliver the kinds of content you enjoy. Please consider taking a 5- to 10-minute reader survey at www.udel.edu/udmessenger or reaching out to us directly at themessenger@udel.edu.
We’re grateful for your time, and for the opportunity to help you stay connected to UD.
Your friends at the Messenger
Submit a letter, either by mail to UD Messenger, 83 East Main St., Newark, DE 19716, or by email to TheMessenger@udel.edu. Please include your full name, graduation year and contact information. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and style.
Earlier this year, Messenger asked readers to give their opinion of what the magazine does (and doesn’t) do right—and how we could improve it. Here’s a sampling of the comments we received.
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[The Messenger] reminds me that institutions like UD have quality people quietly doing very good things, and that investing in education at all levels is worthy, impactful. I think the ‘media’—from local evening news to 24-7 talking heads—misses the mark, portrays mostly what is going wrong and fails to inspire. Specialty publications like the Messenger help counter that bias toward pessimism.
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I would prefer to see more about the students—their lives, community efforts, etc. I/we have chosen the school already; sometimes I feel that the magazine continues to promote the staff more than the students that are there.
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Every time it arrives in the mail I feel a wonderful connection to the University and can’t wait to be transported back via the stories and content.
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The Messenger seems to be a ‘Little Mary Sunshine’ type of publication. If that is what you intend, I don’t have a problem with it, but I won’t read it. The [last] issue’s mention of veterans’ concerns is very good, except that it ignores the treatment of vets in the late ’60s, where a professor might call them out in class, or there would be ‘lost paperwork,’ or (the list goes on).
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I think you do a good job covering the campus perspectives, achievements and news about alumni and students and faculty. The connection of people to the institution is what interests me the most.
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Unfortunately, I can’t think of a single issue of the Messenger which included something really outstanding or truly impactful. You’ll have to work much harder to rise above all the noise out there.
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I talk up UD to the parents or potential students ad nauseam every chance I get. So when I can say they were national field hockey champs or we have students on all those international trips or our sciences continue to crush, the Messenger is my source.
